Chelsea Green's The Rammed Earth House and The Straw Bale House chronicle the possibilities and realities of straw bale and rammed earth construction. Buildings of Earth and Straw fills in the gaps for professional builders, contractors, engineers, inspectors, lenders, and architectural students. It includes special construction requirements of earth and straw, design capabilities and limitations of these materials, and documentation of testing data for use in addressing the concerns of officials. This book offers the nuts and bolts of rammed earth and straw bale building techniques, and why they are so spectacular, durable, and earth-friendly.
Bruce King
Bruce King is a registered structural engineer in private practice in San Rafael, California. He is the author of Buildings of Earth and Straw: Structural Design for Straw Bale and Rammed Earth Architecture (1996) and Design of Straw Bale Buildings; The State of the Art (2006). He is founder and director of the nonprofit Ecological Building Network and co-founder, with his wife Sarah Weller King, of Green Building Press. He lives in San Rafael, California.